THERE was a strong sense that something special was happening when The Unthanks took their places beneath the cathedral’s great tower.
When Becky Unthank’s unaffected voice began King of Rome, the warm and welling tones of the band behind her poetic tale of pigeon fanciers in back-to-backs, it seemed like the opening of a service in celebration of the hopes and dreams of the common man.
There was many a dewy eye among the audience in numbers like pitman poet Tommy Armstrong’s Trimdon Grange, a tribute to the victims of a mining explosion and their grieving families.
The tributes to bravery against oppressive forces surfaced again in the four-part suite composed by pianist Adrian McNally in honour of his and Rachel Unthank’s new son, George.
The understated version of Ewan MacColl’s defiant Father’s Song added steel to the gentle pastoral instrumentals which framed it.
The band showed their virtuoso chops by creating moody and restrained settings for the simple voices of the Unthank sisters which contrasted wonderfully with the warm and masculine backing.
With popular Unthank tunes like Felton Lonnin and Gan to the Kye, they added a depth and drama to the more intimate recorded versions.
And just to prove they were more than a backing act, the boys and girl in the brass section let loose with their own North Country Fantasy, a boisterous melding of popular songs like On Ilkley Moor and Grand Old Duke of York which left the singers grinning and the audience delighted.
They even got a crack at a swing band number when Unthank Chris Price gave the traditional English ballad Queen of Hearts a Sinatra-style treatment.
It started in prayers and ended in cheers. Some of the vast audience had travelled hundreds of miles to see the Unthanks play in exalted surroundings on their home turf.
It couldn’t have been more of a celebration of northern culture with Northumberland’s most acclaimed folk ensemble and Yorkshire’s finest brass players in the greatest cathedral in the land.
A highlight of Brass: Durham International Festival, it was a night which demonstrated this region is the match of anywhere.